Keeping
track of the local battles over health care isn’t easy. Trump has
apparently reached a “tentative” agreement this week with Florida Gov.
Rick Scott to establish a low income pool to reimburse hospitals for the
care of uninsured patients: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/us/politics/medicaid-expansion-trump-obama-florida.html
Even when these pools are not characterized as outright “slush funds,”
they are widely understood as providing an alibi for severe reductions in
Medicaid coverage, as it seems they would do in FL. This is a local
fight with major national implications on which we should weigh in.
Rick Scott’s office number is(850) 488-7146.

President
Trump has ordered Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to reevaluate the
status of 24 national monument sites. The obvious reason for this
action is to open up these sites to drilling, mining, etc. http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/05/01/antiquities-act-bears-ears
Let’s write or call Sec. Zinke, but also write or call the governors and
senators of each of these states. If we have any kind of connection
to the state or federal representatives or newspapers in any of these
states, let’s contact them too. Let’s tell them we want to spend our
tourist dollars visiting these sites and ask them to pressure Sec. Zinke
to keep protecting our national treasures. Her is the list of monuments
under review, links to info, and all the relevant contact information. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BbG6TNwmyJf9P_x5fc78wUrA9nruRZHgsDT5q6y-zxE/edit?usp=sharing

Chief
of Staff Reince Priebus put a chill in the air on Sunday morning when he
raised the specter again of revisiting libel laws: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/30/reince-priebus-libel-law-change-media-white-housePlease send him a postcard to remind him
of how much we value our free press: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20500 And
then, as you are financially able, please support the press outlets that
we are relying on so heavily at this time to help us protect our
democracy.

Net neutrality is a very confusing,
but essential issue with many implications for us all. http://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/1/26/14383040/thune-net-neutrality-bill.
The critical point is that, wherever we stand on the issue of
net neutrality, leaving it vulnerable to the shifting tides of
presidential politics -- which is how it currently stands -- would be
bad for everyone. Senator Thune (R-SD) is proposing that
Congress pass legislation to help stabilize the regulatory
environment known as "net neutrality." Let's thank Senator Thune
for sounding bipartisan enough to make the idea of a compromise
feasible: (202)
224-2321. Let's tell our
MoCs, too, that we want them to talk about this issue, which should not be
decided by partisan politics.

The Financial
CHOICE Act (H.R. 10) is scheduled for a markup today . This legislation
would dismantle Dodd-Frank consumer protections and ease regulations
against Wall Street and big banks. There are a couple of calls we can make
to voice our opposition. First, let's call the House Financial
Services Committee, asking them to vote "no" on H.R.10. 5Calls
has the phone number and a call script available: https://5calls.org/issue/recIY5BMUytUixNbV
We can also call our own representatives to let them know that we do not
support the CHOICE Act. Call scripts are available at the Indivisible
Guide website: http://bit.ly/2qlxTAB

It is becoming increasingly clear that policies intended to address
climate change also improve public health/ http://www.chgeharvard.org/sites/default/files/resources/CarbonFeeMA.pdf. The study looked at two bills in the
Massachusetts legislature that would impose a fee on greenhouse gas
emissions. Revenues from the fee would be rebated to households and
businesses, and a percentage would go to a green infrastructure fund. The
study found that, from 2017-2040, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
and other pollutants would save lives, reduce hospitalizations, and result
in $2.9 billion in cumulative health benefits. Let’s tell our elected
state officials to enact carbon fee & rebate legislation. They can use
these Massachusetts bills as models: S.1821 An Act Combating Climate
Change,https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S1821,
and H.1726 An Act to Promote Green Infrastructure, Reduce Greenhouse Gas
Emissions, and Create Jobs,https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/H1726.

The
Constitution is clear that only Congress may declare war. The
president must obtain approval before any U.S. military action. In
the aftermath of 9/11, Congress hastily passed a sweeping Authorization
for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) allowing President George W. Bush to
attack anyone connected to al Qaeda, anywhere, at any time. The AUMF never
expired, and President Barack Obama stretched its limits to take military
action against the Islamic State because that terror group is an offshoot
of al Qaeda. However, President Trump bombed Syria in response to
Assad’s use of chemical weapons, which was not connected to the Islamic
State. It looks like Congress is looking to take responsibility for the
war against ISIS by finally holding a debate and vote on whether to
authorize any future military action. http://thehill.com/policy/defense/331103-bipartisan-push-grows-for-new-war-authorization
Let’s urge our legislators to act on this so that President Trump does not
undertake any new military operations without the approval of Congress.

The “Fiduciary Rule” is an Obama-era consumer protection
regulation scheduled to go into effect onJune 9, 2017—and
it’s under siege by the Trump administration. The rule requires financial
advisors to act in their clients’ best interests when providing retirement
investment advice. Alexander Acosta, Trump’s new Secretary of Labor, wants
to delay and rescind the rule. https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-02-19/the-fiduciary-rule-and-you
Let’s demand that he preserve it—middle class investors need to know that
the professionals they turn to for help are acting solely in their best
interests. Secretary Alexander Acosta, Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20210,(866) 487-2365.

Thousands
and thousands of people are locked behind bars right now in the United
States not because they are dangerous or have been convicted of crimes,
but just because they do not have the money to make bail. (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bail-trap.html)
While the Obama administration was starting to push back against this
practice, we cannot trust the Trump administration to keep up the fight.
For this Mother's Day, groups organizing against mass incarceration are
raising funds to bail out moms in jails across the country in time to
spend the day with their families. We can support their work by donating
at this link: https://nomoremoneybail.org/.

For
those of us who are looking for creative ways to fight back against
Trump's agenda, check out Donald Donates. For each tweet that Trump sends
out, we can respond by tweeting about which causes or campaigns we have
contributed to, and the Donald Donates organization has automated the
process: https://donalddonates.com/#/about

#MarchForTruth,
set for June 3rd in Washington, D.C. with sister marches around
the country, will be demonstrations to call for an impartial investigation
into Russian interference in the US election and ties to the Trump
administration. For more
information and how we can set up
sister marches on our cities, check here:
https://www.marchfortruth.info/

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About Me

Rogan’s List is a daily, thoroughly vetted action list for people who are unhappy with the current administration and who want to become more politically involved, but do not have time for the research. The compiler, Susan Goodrich Rogan, is a retired librarian who has worked in university, community college, and elementary school libraries. She is the mother of eleven and the grandmother of nine..